Old Town Alexandria was the perfect spot for the 10th family portrait session with Joe & Missy and their two boys. Marked by its rich history, Old Town Alexandria square one for antique buildings, the occasional modern architecture, great waterfront views, and beautifully manicured natural landscapes. It really is the perfect spot for a family portrait session, and hands down one of my favorites for folks coming for a session from the south.
Finding a parking spot in Old Town Alexandria can definitely be tricky sometimes, but there’s usually availability within a few blocks on side streets off the main thoroughfares. It’s best not to rely too heavily on navigation apps for this area because they’re notoriously bad at navigating through the traffic in Old Town. I find it’s often better to move through secondary roads that don’t have stop lights. The navigation app will be screaming at you the whole time, but you’ll beat the travel estimate by a good 10 minutes.
Joe & Missy’s oldest is now a teenager in high school and he was only a toddler when we first started working together. That’s wild to me. He’s like a young Mark Hamill. Their youngest has grown like crazy, but still holding on to the charm of a youngster. He brought along a favorite toy, a cute little bear in a sweater, and wanted to include it in the photos. I was happy to oblige.
We started out on the classic cobblestone of Prince Street, then meandered our way over to an alleyway popular with portrait photographers, and then finally we headed down toward the water. By the end of the session, the sun had just ducked behind the horizon and the sky had lit up with a pale purple color that made for some beautiful lighting for our last few shots.
One of my favorite photos from the session was a black and white of the youngest, sitting criss cross under the arched staircase to one of the historic homes. He has this pensive, serious face that really makes the photo compelling. It was a great session with a great family and I’m looking forward to the next time we work together.
